Pages

Wednesday, 20 May 2015

Otmoor and Notmoor early to mid May

Back for the Summer (c) JR

I think that sometimes we take our wildlife and our
wildlife reserves a bit too much for granted. Too often I meet people on Otmoor
and when I ask what they have seen they reply.... “not much”. Reading the Bird
Log regularly while I have been away has highlighted how lucky we are in
Oxfordshire and the UK when compared with some parts of Europe and certainly
some of the Mediterranean Islands. They can be great holiday destinations
stacked full of history, with great food, warm seas and dramatic landscapes but
they can be difficult places to find birds.

There are of course exceptions
Lesvos is superb and the birding in Majorca is good. Sicily however where I have
just been is not such a destination. The birds that are there, apart of course
from the ubiquitous Sparrows and Pigeons are very wary, hard to see and
photograph. They are also spread very thinly throughout the landscape. Birding
every morning from dawn for two or three hours failed to turn up much variety in
the number of species or indeed actual numbers of birds.

Sardinian Warbler (c) Bark

A visit to the moor
can produce sight or sound of ten warbler species in a morning. Most days I saw
Sardinian Warblers, Zitting Cisticola, Reed Warbler and heard Cetti's.
Interestingly calling almost the same as ours but not quite.

Sicilian House Martin (c) Bark

Swallow and Sand Martin Otmoor (c) Mark Chivers

Hirundines resting on the moor (c) JR

There were
indeed large numbers of Swifts both Common and Pallid and plenty of Swallows and
House Martins. However I only saw three raptors altogether, one Kestrel, one
Marsh Harrier and one fleeting flyover Eleanora’s falcon. There have been
regular reports of at least three Cuckoos on the reserve, but in Sicily I heard
just one calling in the distance while up in the hills.

Cuckoo (c) JR

A single Woodchat Shrike
was nice bird to find as was a single European Bee eater. I was visiting an
extensive wetland reserve every morning and not just local farmland, so I had
hoped to find more. Highlight of my birding was a Little Bittern that allowed a
reasonably close approach and didn’t fly off the moment it saw me. Holidays are
not just about birding and there was loads to compensate for the paucity of
birds.

Little Bittern (c) Bark

On the moor there has been lots to catch up with. I am delighted to
hear of at least three Turtle Doves calling from their regular spots. I did hear
several calling in Sicily but Collared Dove was the commonest dove I saw.

Marsh Harrier interaction

The two female Marsh Harriers have continued to show
really well from the first screen and there are still a smattering of passage
waders to be found. Early indications are that the breeding waders, Snipe,
Redshank and Lapwings are having a good season. Snipe are drumming in larger
numbers than recent years and there are very many more pairs of Redshank
present.

Over the next few weeks birds will be busy feeding young
and then starting on second broods. Dragonflies and Butterflies will abound and
wildflowers will bloom. There is never “not much” to see on Otmoor.